Workshop: Digital for Sustainability – In Need of a Disruptive Research Agenda

Sticky PostBy On September 25, 2017

"Digital Transformation" is the buzz phrase of the day. Since the 1980s an explosive growth has happened in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and its become pervasive, bringing a perception of tremendous acceleration in technological innovation. There are also high expectations for the role of ICT in sustainable development. Concepts such as disruption, dematerialization and zero marginal costs contribute to the (up to now) false belief that becoming increasingly digital will lead to low resource consumption. However, research shows that the ICT sector itself is not environmentally friendly; it is the fastest growing contributor to emissions, it consumes large amounts of energy, water and critical resources, and produces equally vast amounts of harmful waste with minimal recycling.

To address the generic claim of ICT as contributing to a better and “green” world, there should be mutual recognition and cooperation between digital tech and sustainable development, especially to understand the significant effort needed to harness the power of ICT for human advancement. Digital technologies and sustainability have rarely been analysed together in a rigorous manner. The scientific literature about the nexus of these topics is, up to now worryingly thin, and in many aspects not yet addressing the right questions, much less the responses.

This issue demands a rigorous inquiry of issues at stake and the foundation of a research agenda that builds strong synergies aimed to act beyond current hyped assumptions.

The goal of this workshop is to ignite a community of interested parties, who work on interdisciplinary research and action agendas, and to enable the alignment of digital technologies with the goals of sustainable development.

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"Digital Transformation" is the buzz phrase of the day. Since the 1980s an explosive growth has happened in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and its become pervasive, bringing a perception of tremendous acceleration in technological innovation. There are also high expectations for the role of ICT in sustainable development. Concepts such as disruption, dematerialization and zero marginal costs contribute to the (up to now) false belief that becoming increasingly digital will lead to low resource consumption. However, research shows that the ICT sector itself is not environmentally friendly; it is the fastest growing contributor to emissions, it consumes large amounts of energy, water and critical resources, and produces equally vast amounts of harmful waste with minimal recycling.

To address the generic claim of ICT as contributing to a better and “green” world, there should be mutual recognition and cooperation between digital tech and sustainable development, especially to understand the significant effort needed to harness the power of ICT for human advancement. Digital technologies and sustainability have rarely been analysed together in a rigorous manner. The scientific literature about the nexus of these topics is, up to now worryingly thin, and in many aspects not yet addressing the right questions, much less the responses.

This issue demands a rigorous inquiry of issues at stake and the foundation of a research agenda that builds strong synergies aimed to act beyond current hyped assumptions.

The goal of this workshop is to ignite a community of interested parties, who work on interdisciplinary research and action agendas, and to enable the alignment of digital technologies with the goals of sustainable development.

"Digital Transformation" is the buzz phrase of the day. Since the 1980s an explosive growth has happened in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and its become pervasive, bringing a perception of tremendous acceleration in technological innovation. There are also high expectations for the role of ICT in sustainable development. Concepts such as disruption, dematerialization and zero marginal costs contribute to the (up to now) false belief that becoming increasingly digital will lead to low resource consumption. However, research shows that the ICT sector itself is not environmentally friendly; it is the fastest growing contributor to emissions, it consumes large amounts of energy, water and critical resources, and produces equally vast amounts of harmful waste with minimal recycling.

To address the generic claim of ICT as contributing to a better and “green” world, there should be mutual recognition and cooperation between digital tech and sustainable development, especially to understand the significant effort needed to harness the power of ICT for human advancement. Digital technologies and sustainability have rarely been analysed together in a rigorous manner. The scientific literature about the nexus of these topics is, up to now worryingly thin, and in many aspects not yet addressing the right questions, much less the responses.

This issue demands a rigorous inquiry of issues at stake and the foundation of a research agenda that builds strong synergies aimed to act beyond current hyped assumptions.

The goal of this workshop is to ignite a community of interested parties, who work on interdisciplinary research and action agendas, and to enable the alignment of digital technologies with the goals of sustainable development.